The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-03-12
HABITS OF SWORDFISHES.
How They "Spear" the Bottoms of Ships,
When Angry-Old Beliefs About Them.

When Angry-Old Beliefs About Them.
Among the objects frequently to be
observed in museums of natural history
the timbers of ships pierced with sword.
fishes are by no means uncommon.
Ordinarily speaking, and as far as
naturalist opinions 90, the swordfish
appears to be peaceable enough.
When. however, the fish is irritated or
emraged its disposition because out
rageously fierce. Presumably it is then
that it vents its temper on the UNI
offending timbers of ships. A certain
schooner, named the Volunteer, hailing
from the port Of Gloucester, Mass.
found itself in the the neighborhood of
Book Island. About four O'Clock on
that day, the vessel recled from a sud
den shock, which at first suggested the
possibility of having struck some
hidden reef. The weather was so
fine that the Volunteer was well
nigh becalmed, and fortunately
captain and crew had plenty
of leisure and opportunity to take
things calmly in face of the mysterious
danger which threatened them. A
glance over the side of the vessel
sutficed to reveal the cause of the
shock. A swordtiSh of large size was
seen in the act Of charging the ship
once again. 1t retreated. and then
rushing through the water renewed its
assault with great vigor. A boat was
quickly manned, and a harpooner duly
dispatched the assailant, which was
found to weigh three hundred pounds.
In due time the Volunteer was locked
at Gloucester, when an inspection was
made of the vessels keel. 1t was then
found that about six feet from
the vessels stem, near the top
of the keel. the sword had
entered the wood, and had actually
broken four times as the assault of the
fish was renewed. Four pieces of the
weapon We're found embedded in the
keel. The fish had thus used its dam
aged sword again and again in the
course of its attack, and, oblivious OF
hurt and pain, had sacrificed itself in
the pursuit Of an utterly unjustifiable
rage.
Tales of its combats with whales and
porpoises figure in natural history.
The swordfsh charges the great sea
mammals and spears them with as
deadly a thrust as ever h%arpooner gave.
The great narwhal enjoys the repu-
tatlon of possessing the longest tooth in
the world, since this organ grows to
form a twisted ivory pole, which may
occasionally attain a length of nine or
ten feet. Thus armed the animal
would seem to present a much more
formidable front than the sword-ish
itself. But by all accounts, the sea.
unicorn is a relatively quiet and peacea-
bic creature. by no means given
to attacking any thing or any
body, save perchance, as OAR
win tells us, to engage in occasional
combats with its own rivals and with
its W kith and kin. As far as orr in.
extends. we fail to discover
any instance of a narwhal using his
long tooth to probe the timbers of a
ship. In olden times, the tooth was
much valued as a remedy against pois-
on; a virtue, by the way. which the
horn of the mythical land-unicorn was
likewise believed to possess.
baflin' Of Batfin's Bay fame, wrote of
this animal, that "it being a great fish.
having a long horn or bone growing
forth of its forehead or n~ostril, such as
Martin Frobisher in his second vow.
age found one, in diverse places we saw
'hem' which if the horne be of any good
value. no doubt that many of them ma
be killed" In H%akluyt's Travels,
froblsher himself describing the nar-
whal' speaks of it as having sin his
nose a horne streight and toruuet.
ol length two yards lacking
.wo ynches.' He then proceeds to
test his presumably medicinal powers,
'ne'ns broken in the top, here we
might perceive it hollow, into which
OF our sailors putting spiders.
,hey presently died" Wisely, per.
maps, for the credit of his own norr,.
AVE. Sir Martin adds that he ..saw moi :
,ne 'ar1ll hereof but it was reported
anto me OF n truth; by the ~yirtue
whereof we supposed If to be the soa
lnicorna." ~ 'oa
,nis was rather a curious fashion Of
'uos,ns the character of an animal bv
ne effects Of his horns upon Innocent
'P'aers' and the tale smacks somewhat .
;, ,, the CLANS Magnus type after NIL !
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